Wedding Inspo - Backyard Weddings

If 2020 and 2021 have showed us anything, its that backyard wedding are here to stay forever. Over the last few seasons, we’ve captured some of the dreamiest backyard celebrations, but when 2020 changed everything, these incredibly special weddings took center stage.

Even though things have calmed down quiet a bit in the wedding world this year, so many of our couples are still opting for amazing backyard soirées and truthfully they’re some of our most treasured days. From the dainty, simple celebrations to the wildly-elegant bashes, backyard weddings come in all shapes and sizes. Whether its a day that only includes close friends and family or one that brings guests from near and far, our couples always find the perfect ways to kick off their marriages.

We’re so excited to see even more of these amazing little days so very soon, we already know they’ll each be so dang beautiful and unforgettable!

Featured Love Stories
Dominic + Maggie in Albuquerque, NM
Matt + Allie in Santa Fe, NM
Colin + Amber in Albuquerque, NM
Jebb + Abbie in Tesque, NM
Angie + Brittany in Albuquerque, NM
Nate + Cait in Denver, CO
Gates + C.C. in Northern New Mexico
Andrew + Shay in Albuquerque, NM
Suraj + Celina in Albuquerque, NM
Trey + Clara in San Patricio, NM
Shane + Megan in Albuquerque, NM

Weddings by Alicia, Ashley, Bre, and the ALP Team
Blog + Photo Curation by Jaclyn of Alicia Lucia Photography

Wedding Inspo - Avant Garde Weddings

Over the past few seasons we’ve found ourselves falling head-over-heels for those bold, bright, completely unique avant-garde weddings and elopements. This modern, colorful spin on traditional celebrations always leaves us pining for more extraordinarily stunning days.

From rainbow florals to shag rug cakes to elegant wedding style with a touch of exceptionally individual details, these days always have so many moments to drool over. Avant-garde nuptials have the perfect mix of classic wedding elegance with modern funk. With disco balls as wedding decor, brides in designer gowns walking down the aisle to bluegrass music, and couples rolling dice with their wedding parties in the middle of an art galleries, these days have seriously never failed to blow us away.

Bring on all the exceptionally unique, wildly beautiful weddings and elopements. We’re so dang excited to capture more and more of these groovy days!!

Featured Love Stories + Shoots
Noah + Rachel at Camino Real Ranch (Austin, TX)
John + Anna at La Fonda on the Plaza (Santa Fe, NM)
Nate + Cait in Downtown Denver (Denver, CO)
Scott + Leanne at SITE Santa Fe (Santa Fe, NM)
Morgan + Mattie at Las Campananas (Santa Fe, NM)

Weddings + Elopements by Alicia, Ashley, Bre, and the ALP Team
Blog + Photo Curation by Jaclyn of Alicia Lucia Photography

Wedding Inspo - Colorado Weddings

New Mexico may be our gorgeous home state, but dang do we absolutely adore Colorado weddings and elopements. Every once in awhile, we get to journey up to our northern sister state and it always blows us away with its stunning views and amazing celebrations.

From front porch weddings in the heart of Denver to stellar weddings on remote ranches to the most beautiful bashes among red rock formations, we’ve seen an incredibly vast amount of out-of-this-world days. We love the way the cities of Colorado are just as welcoming and cozy as the larger than life mountain ranges and state parks.

We can’t wait to be back in colorful Colorado for even more captivating days with the most lovely couples around!

Colorado Weddings
Nate + Cait in Downtown Denver
Brant + Sharayah at Paradise Ranch, Pagosa Springs
Blake + Jennie at Garden of the Gods, Colorado Springs
Alex + Amber at High County Lodge, Pagosa Springs

Weddings by Alicia, Ashley, Bre, and the ALP Team
Blog + Photo Curation by Jaclyn of Alicia Lucia Photography

Wedding Inspo - Groom Style, 4th Edition

Everyone who knows us already knows that we adore featuring our incredibly gorgeous brides all over the blog, but what about the grooms? Every year, we dedicate a special blog to all of the amazing dudes we get to meet on wedding and elopement days and, of course, take the opportunity feature their killer style.

With all of the changes to weddings in 2020, its no surprise that so many of our grooms opted for unique style choices. Whether it was a pastel blue suit, a simple yet breezy dress shirt paired with slacks, a sleek camel coat with boots, or even a classic black tux, all of the stellar outfit choices these handsome fellas made did not disappoint one bit.

We adore getting to see grooms express their personalities on wedding days, even if its through a simple attire choice, we’re beyond hyped to see what 2021 grooms have in store for us!

Our Favorite Groom Attire Designers + Shops
Bonobos
Ralph Lauren
J. Crew
Limatus Bespoke
Don Morphy
H&M
The Black Tux
Tom James
Men’s Wearhouse
Tommy Hilfiger
Kenneth Cole
Suit Supply
Ted Baker
ASOS
Jos A. Banks
Suits Unlimited

Weddings + Elopements by Alicia, Ashley, Bre, and the ALP Team
Blog + Photo Curation by Jaclyn of Alicia Lucia Photography

2021 Wedding + Elopement Trends

Despite all of the uncertainty and struggle of 2020, we’ve seen so many amazing things start to take hold in the wedding industry. From recognizing how amazing small, intentional celebrations can be to couples taking chances on brand new ideas for their special day, we’ve truly been in awe over all of it. We’re hoping that a few of the trends we’ve been crushing on become major elements of weddings and elopements in 2021!

We’re currently obsessed with:
- unique + colorful bridal gowns
- bright + funky florals
- soft baby’s breath bouquets
- tiny, intimate ceremonies with just friends + family
- unique, avant-garde cakes


Weddings + Elopement by Alicia, Ashley, Bre, and the ALP Team
Blog + Photo Curation by Jaclyn of Alicia Lucia Photography

Wedding Inspo - Invitation Suite Inspo

A lot of things may have changed for weddings this year, but one element that always remains is beautiful invitation suites. We adore seeing how our couples pull together their special day with this tiny, but stunning detail.

From bespoke invitation suites with watercolor details to minimalist and modern stationary to bright and colorful invites, we’ve seen some incredible designs over the past season!

We can’t wait to see what unique and beautiful concepts our couples pull into their invitation suites in the future, we already know that we’ll be absolutely awestruck over them all!!

Invitation Designers
Funky Olive Design
Letterpress Made
Minted
Natalie Soud Studio
Silver Swirl Studios
Sweet Sentimentality
Basic Invite
Protea Press
Shutterfly
K.Laine Design
Southern Fried Paper
Dandylion Paper

Weddings by the Alicia Lucia Photography Team
Blog + Photo Curation by Jaclyn of Alicia Lucia Photography

Nate + Cait, a Magical Denver Wedding

Nathan and Caitlin, aka Nate + Cait aka N8 + C8, originally planned for a beautiful fall wedding here in New Mexico, but when 2020 switched up their plans, these lovers came up with one of the most enchanting, unique, and downright unforgettable wedding days we’ve ever witnessed.

Long before they said “I do” in the heart of Denver, these two first met on a dating app, Hinge, several years ago. On the day that Nate and Cait planned to meet up for their first date, a psychic had come into Cait’s work and mentioned to her that she was about to meet the man who she would end up marrying (we got literal chills reading that part). Later on that same day, Cait and Nate met up for drinks and chicken wings and dang was that psychic’s prediction spot on because these two have been together ever since.

Last year, while on a trip to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, Nate popped the question on the most dreamy night. After a day of exploring, Cait instinctively picked the exact restaurant Nate had already made arrangements to propose to her at! While watching the sunset Nate asked Cait to marry him and she, of course, said yes. And to top it all off, fireworks were being set off over the city, making this sweet little proposal something straight out of a movie.

Flash forward to 2020, and after changing their initial plans, Nate and Cait wound up with the most remarkable little wedding we’ve ever seen. Their wedding date, 8/8, has significant ties to good luck and new beginnings in many cultures and is also tied to their nicknames, C8 and N8 (a fact we’re low-key obsessed with). Instead of a traditional wedding venue, these babes chose their front porch stoop, which is perhaps one of the prettiest, most intricately designed ones around. This distinctive ceremony spot allowed their guests to still witness everything while also being able to socially distance. To make their already beautiful ceremony spot even more special, Cait and Nate had our angel Bagels Florals created the most astonishing hanging florals to adorn their space.

Following their ceremony, Nate + Cait brought a piece of New Mexico to Colorado with a mariachi parade, featuring the musicians of Mariachi Los Reales, to their reception location, Potager Restaurant, which was a quick six blocks away. After arriving, they had a spontaneous first dance to Cuando Calienta el Sol, one of their fave songs while still being surrounded by all of their loved ones. These newlyweds were then whisked away of the back of a floral decorated truck for some truly phenomenal romantics with us. To cap off this astonishing day, Nate and Cait held an intimate reception dinner at Potager for 20 of their closest friends and family members.

Despite all the challenges, switch-ups, and uncertainty of this year, Nate and Cait still pulled off one of the most marvelous days we’ve ever been so lucky to be a tiny part of. Cheers to N8 + C8, to finding beauty in all the madness of life, and to always trusting the unparalleled power of love.

Vendors
Ceremony Location - Private Home in Denver, CO
Reception - Potager Restaurant
Planning - Brindle + Oak
Florals - Bagels Florals
Paper Goods - Minted
Ring Box - The Mrs Box
Glam - Melissa Shafi
Bridal Gown - Anne Barge
Bridal Boutique - The Altar Bridal Centennial
Bride’s Shoes - Tamara Mellon
Bride’s Wedding Band - Mociun
Groom’s Suit - Bonobos
Groom’s Band - Foster and Son Jewelry
Mariachi Band - Mariachi Los Reales
Lead Photographer - Alicia
Second Photographer - Ashley Joyce

Blog + Photo Curation by Jaclyn of Alicia Lucia Photography

Wedding Inspo - Ceremony Altars

Whether its a mini-wedding with a handful of guests or a giant, incredibly lively wedding with a whole bunch of friends and family members, our couples always find a way to make their ceremonies extra gorgeous, especially when it comes to the backdrops they pick to stand in front of to say “I do”. From stunning floral installations to incredible ceremony arches, we’ve seen it all, but we love looking back at some of the most show-stopping ceremony set ups we’ve seen over the past year.

As expected, we captured a ton of floral arches, from the bright and bold to the soft and whimsical varieties. Arches, both of of the wooden variety and of the purely floral design are becoming a wedding staple that we’re sure will always be a fan fave.

But besides this new classic, what other beauties have adorned alters and made vows that much more special? There are a few pretty little designs that come to mind and wow, are we still drooling over them. Just a few of our current faves include a dreamy mauve-toned geometric backdrop, the most eye-catching florals being draped from a tiny balcony, and a boho rug framed with giant pampas grass arrangements. And, of course, we can’t forget how one of our couples opted for that wide open New Mexico sky to be their ceremony background as they exchanged vows at a backyard wedding in the Santa Fe mountains.

We’re not sure what new altar trends will take the wedding world by storm in the coming years, but we do know that they’ll be absolutely divines and we’re so dang here for it all.

Featured Weddings + Styled Shoots
Zach + Natalie at The Desert Compass
Emerson Venue Styled Wedding
Nathan + Caitlin in Denver, CO (coming soon to the blog)
Jawara + Jasmyn at Los Poblanos
Brittany + Angie in Nob Hill (coming soon to the blog)
Ben + Emilee at Sandia Event Center
Matt + Allie in Santa Fe, NM (coming soon to the blog)
Drew + Lauren at La Mesita Ranch Estate
John + Anna at La Fonda on the Plaza
Jeremy + Michelle at Los Poblanos (coming soon to the blog)
Patrick + Niki at Enchanted Vine Barn
Geoff + Jocelyn at Hacienda Doña Andrea
James + Lauren at Los Poblanos
Morgan + Mattie at Las Campanas
Carter + Carrie at La Fonda on the Plaza
Qwist + Cara at Los Poblanos
Trey + Clara in San Patricio, NM
Zach + Coli at Hotel Albuquerque
Chris + Ari at Los Poblanos
Ashwin + Lauren at La Posada de Santa Fe
Jordan + KC in Santa Fe, NM
Adam + Jill at Los Poblanos
Jason + Natalie at La Fonda on the Plaza
Colton + Lindsey at Hyatt Tamaya

Weddings by Alicia, Ashley, Bre, and the ALP Team
Blog + Photo Curation by Jaclyn of Alicia Lucia Photography